It was great to see so many concerned citizens at these past two meetings! Good job everyone! At such an inconvenient time at that. I’d like to specifically address the potential funding for a State (Department Of Natural Resources) purchase. As I think this should be our current focus and it seemed there were many people who didn’t see this as financially possible. It also wasn’t explained very well. Any time that the Department Of Natural Resources wishes to purchase a new piece of property, they rely heavily on conservation organizations. Such as “The Nature Conservancy”. The Nature conservancy was at Tuesdays meeting along with chief of real estate for Ga DNR. And is currently partnered with the Department Of Natural Resources in ongoing negotiations for much of the Aubrey corp land. The Nature Conservancy is a MULTI BILLION dollar non profit. They receive their donations from private members and corporate partners such as Southern Company (as a quick example).If you don’t know who southern company is, they’re the reason your house has power and is warm right now. These donations are given in trade for tax deductions. These are not tax payer dollars. However, neither DNR nor any non profit organization are legally allowed to pay over “fair market value” for any piece of property. Fair market value can only be accurately determined by an appraisal, which to my knowledge has not yet been done on the Aubrey corp property. It seems to me that most of the land value is held in those potential mining areas. I’m optimistic we will get some kind of substantial update on the states negotiations in the coming weeks. Now is the time to collectively come up with solutions and spread the word, rather than pointing out problems. That part may come later. (Hopefully not)